Rod Duke

Chairman of the Judges

Rod is a director of his own consultancy business, which specialises in providing advisory services to the financial services industry and its principal suppliers. He has been involved in private equity provision as a business angel on his own behalf and has represented other investors. He is a non-executive director of Alliance & Leicester Group and Exedra Clubs.

Alison Thomas Steer MBA

Co-ordinator for nominations and Judges

Alison is a freelance journalist specialising in the financial services and technology industries. She has a BA in European Business Administration from ESC Reims, France, and an MBA from Cranfield University. Having gained marketing experience in the IT sector, she later worked in consumer credit and then as a consultant in the financial services industry.

David Cavell FCIB

Industry Adviser

David was a member of the general management team at the Co-operative Bank until he left in 1996 to become a freelance adviser. Since then David has gained international recognition and played a prominent role in many finance industry initiatives. He is currently a panel member of the UK Banking Code Standards Board.

Jimmy Desai

Partner, Blake Lapthorn Tarlo Lyons

As a partner in the law firm Blake Lapthorn Tarlo Lyons, Jimmy specialises in IT, IP, and corporate, commercial and outsourcing law issues. He has a Master’s degree in Electronic Engineering (first class), commendations in all Law Society examinations and a postgraduate diploma in IP Law & Practice from the University of Bristol. He writes regularly for legal and industry publications. Jimmy is also a lecturer at the University of London and presents at numerous international legal conferences, as well as on Law Channel TV.

Marc DonFrancesco

Group Head of Marketing, Towergate Partnership

Marc has enjoyed over 20 years in the insurance industry, having worked with both insurance companies and brokers before joining Towergate Partnership in 2006 as Group Head of Marketing. Towergate is Europe’s largest independently owned insurance intermediary and is renowned for its innovation and successful reinvention of the general insurance distribution model. Marc has a Masters degree in Marketing and Strategy Management, holds a qualification from the Chartered Institute of Marketing and has a Chartered Insurance Institute Diploma.

Dr Tony Gandy FCIB

Industry Adviser

Tony is an adviser to the ifs School of Finance and has a background in studying the conjunction between technology and financial services strategy. He holds a PhD from the London School of Economics and has held the Tomash Research Fellowship for the history of data processing at the University of Minnesota.

Mark Goodman FCIB

Industry Adviser

Mark is an accomplished management consultant and has more than 20 years' experience in the financial services industry. He has successfully led complex projects and programmes for a range of large banks, building societies and insurance companies, including project portfolio management, process re-engineering and improvements in financial management and control. Mark is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales with a first-class MA in Mathematics and a postgraduate diploma in Computer Science from Cambridge University.

Richard Lowrie FCIB

Industry Adviser, FS Insight Ltd

Richard is the Director for Banking Strategy, EMEA, at SAP AG via his own consultancy firm FS Insight. This ever-evolving role involves developing and participating in new initiatives in the banking industry as well as harking back to his roots in a customer-facing role developing business opportunities and supporting sales.

Gary Millner FCIB

Director of Further Education Development, ifs School of Finance

Gary began his financial services career with Lloyds TSB, in international banking. He then moved to a top FTSE 100 bank, where he held responsibility for a number of branches and a regulated sales team. Gary achieved his MBA in 1999 and became a Fellow of ifs School of Finance in 2000.

David Morrish FCIB

Consultant, djm Consultancy (Former Head of Operational Risk, Lloyds TSB)

David has been in banking for over 35 years, retiring from Lloyds TSB in January of this year to become an independent risk consultant. In his time with Lloyds, David had many diverse roles. These included leading the Bank’s main international trade finance branch in Lombard Street and also its principal operational centre for global corporate customers based in London and Gillingham. As an internal auditor, David’s audits included treasury operations in London, equity trading in Frankfurt, commodity trading in New York and international operations in Sydney and Wellington.

Jonathan Taylor

Director General, London Investment Banking Association (LIBA)

Jonathan Taylor has been Director General of the London Investment Banking Association since November 2005. He was previously a Managing Director and Head of Public Policy, International at UBS AG, which he joined in 2002 following a career as an official of the UK Treasury.

He served as Director in the Treasury's Macroeconomic Policy and International Finance Directorate from 1998–2002 and in that capacity as UK Alternate Member of the EU's Monetary (subsequently Economic and Financial) Committee. He was Economic and Financial Counsellor at the UK's Permanent Representation to the EU from 1994–1998. His previous posts, which mainly concerned international and financial markets policy, included that of Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, from 1987–1989. Jonathan studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at New College, Oxford.

Suzanne Williams

Training Manager for Bankhall, the IFA Network

Suzanne has over 18 years of experience within financial services, several of these within sales, management and regulated supervision. Suzanne is a qualified training consultant, having achieved her Certificate in Training Practice (CIPD) in 2000. Prior to joining Bankhall, Suzanne worked as a successful sales consultant and regulated trainer for a large UK bank assurer. She has recently completed her Master’s degree in Personnel and Development at Liverpool John Moores University and is currently studying towards her MBA at Chester University.